Hoop Dreams

The NBA playoffs are almost finished (thankfully because 3 of my 4 most hated teams still remain) but the real hoop dreams will be happening here in Thailand. Tomorrow a team of 6 from the States will be coming to do some basketball camps. Although Thailand is near to China, I am not expecting any Yao Ming's to emerge. We will be having a camp in Chiang Dao (Friday 30-Sunday 1) with many of the students we've been teaching English to. Then we will head to Jom Tong, where we will start doing ministry for the first time (Tuesday 3-Friday 6). On Saturday 7, we will have a banquet at the church and every one that attended the camp is invited. Sunday is church and Monday the team leaves. We are excited and nervous as we are doing something we've never tried before. Pray that contacts would be made, friendships strengthened and most importantly, people would come to know Christ as Savior.

A Trip to the Hospital

Thai people make me laugh... In some areas, they are so cautious, as they don't want to offend anyone. You can't be direct, instead, you have to beat around the bush. But in other areas, areas we as North Americans are not so direct, Thais are very direct. Thais love to ask you about your weight, your salary and how much you paid for that latest thing you bought (even if they don't even know you). Thais will come up to us and pick up Owen too.

Owen, along with the rest of us, hasn't been feeling too good. Last week when we went to the doctor. After Owen was finished with his check-up, Tawm and I went to get one too. The nurses in the children's clinic took Owen and said, we will return him when you guys are done. It is just so typical of Thai culture.

Yesterday we went to the doctor again as the doctor made an appointment to check Owen again. When he was finished, Tawm and the doctor started talking. Here was the gist of the conversation.
Doctor (talking about Owen): Oh, you have such a sweet face. Who do you look like more?
Tawm: Everyone says that Owen looks like his father.
Doctor: No! His father doesn't have a sweet face.
Tawm: Well I think he has a mixture of both of us.
Doctor: No.
I just smiled as the whole conversation happened... It is so typical of the things we hear here all the time.

Another Weird Sunday

I'm not sure what's been happening the last 2 Sundays (you can read about what happened last Sunday in the previous post). A few days before Sunday, Owen, Tawm and I were all feeling pretty crummy. On Friday evening, I started to lose my voice and on Saturday it was pretty much gone. I emailed Rusty (since I couldn't really talk) to preach for me and Tawm would translate. Even though it was really short notice, he agreed to do it. When Sunday morning arrived, my voice was coming back some but Tawm's was pretty much gone. Tawm tried to find a translator but its hard to find a translator for Sunday services when it is Sunday morning. In the end we got Kaimook, the daughter of one of our members who studies at an international school to translate. She has done it a few times for Rusty at cell group, but this was her first time in front of a bigger group of people. Although she struggled at times, she did a good job. We're just glad that we are feeling under the weather before the team comes, not when they arrive!

Some Daddy Firsts

Over the past week, I've had some new experiences as a dad. Last week Owen got sick for the first time. He had an eye and ear infection but after we saw the doctor and got some medicine, Owen was better the next day. Owen sure didn't like the feeling of being sick, he was not the normal, happy Owen at all. After Owen got better, both mommy and daddy got sick. I've always heard of that happening, but this is my first experience.

The other first happened Sunday morning at church. During worship, I was holding Owen as Tawm was working the powerpoint. As I was holding him, there was a rumbling in Owen's diaper and I knew he had just done his deed. Mimi, one of the girls at church, just happened to be watching us at the time when her jaw dropped and she pointed at me. Owen's diaper didn't catch all the poop. It had started running down his leg, on to me and on to the floor. All this happened during the second to last song before I had to preach. Well, I got us both cleaned up just as they were praying before the sermon. Usually when that prayer is finished, I am standing at the front ready to preach. Last Sunday I wasn't and everyone started looking for me. That's when they discovered the poopy incident. Needless to say, we had a few minutes between prayer and preaching and when I started to preach, I was pretty flustered and as a result my introduction didn't go too smoothly. Oh well, it will be a Sunday that I never forget.

Some More Owen Pictures

A lot has happened since the last Owen post. Owen has turned 5 months and along with that, he has started eating bananas (which he likes) and eggs and rice (which he doesn't care for). He has started to push his whole body off the floor and he can sit if you prop him in the right position (although he still likes to tip). No matter where he goes, he is still a hit. The question we always get asked is if we want to give him away. Thais would love to raise their own "farang (foreign)" [even though he is mixed] baby for themselves!